Underrated for this year. Solid first and second sets.
Nice Green Onions w. jerry beaming.

Check out The Other One - Spooky.

Best I attended this year.

God Bless and enjoy.

Man, I just finished my Freshmen year at Syracuse and road tripped back to Rochester from Cape Cod where I was living with School buddies. 4 of us. What a trip and what a show. I could not believe my eyes. Had this show on tape and it was a solid solid show. Can't wait to download this.

Overall: just like last year's Silver Stadium show, this is a good quality, solidly played "meat and potatoes" GD show. Lots of traditional song choices, with one of Jerry's new tunes thown in for good measure. The sound quality isn't fantastic, but it's good enough if you're looking to retrieve some memories of this fine day in Roch. I know there were a lot of high quality tapes of this show floating around for years, so I'm not sure why we're stuck with this sub-par recording for the first set. At least the other recording of this show currently on archive is a high quality second set, but for the first set it's just this one.

The scene: after Alpine, Pittsburg, and SPAC, we were here for our hometown show. I don't remember who I actually went to this show with (Larry and Chard, I think), but once inside there were at least 20 people from Sutherland, so it was a fun time in that regard. My memory of this day gets a bit muddled with the 87 Silver Stadium show sometimes, but I do remember having a great time on this day.

The music: Set I: Box is always a fantastic tune to hear, especially as an encore or show opener. It takes a minute to sort out some volume problems for Phil's mic. Cold Rain follows, but there seems to still be some minor problems with the vocal volume. Brent gives the audience some of that Hammond magic in Minglewood, with both Bobby and Jerry taking turns with the slide afterward. "T right here in (long pause) Rochester." I think Bobby forgot where he was for a minute. Ramble has a good amount of energy (this is a song that I often think drags a bit). Some people think Far From Me is too much of a downer, but I disagree. This is a great song and I thoroughly enjoyed hearing it every time I got the chance.

Set II: the Green Onions jam was fun, but it just fizzled instead of going somewhere. That's fine, but at the show I remember being disappointed b/c I thought they were going to launch into something unexpected. The China>Rider is solid and has its peaks, but is not particularly outstanding compared with others of this era. Sampson is standard. Jerry makes me believe with this top-notch version of Believe it or Not. Truckin is nice with a great little build up prior to a very brief jam that moves into He's Gone. Although I'd heard He's Gone at Alpine just a few days after Nick's death (see my review of 6/23/88), this was a really special He's Gone for most everybody else in the Pittsford crew due to Nick's death just a couple of weeks prior. From an objective point of view, this also does have a really good "nothing's going to bring him back" section with Jerry, Bobby, and Brent all pitching in. Other One is nice and spacey. There is a big section of Thowin that drops out on this recording. Wharf>Thowin>Lovelight are all pretty standard for this era. A lot of us were thinking Knockin (par for the course after a Other>Wharf>Throw), so the Brokedown encore was a really nice treat.

Jerry looked very dashing with his blazer that night. Green Onions>China/Rider great stuff. The stadium was set in a neighborhood. Home of the Rochester Red Wings. Too much nitrus. If anybody has any pictures of Jerry that night please email me. Thanks

....Believe it or not is a beautiful song, although it sounds more like a jerry band tune. Did JGB ever play it? Great late 80's show!

This was a fun show for me. It was the smallest venue I'd been up to this point (JFK, Giants Stadium, Brendan Byrne) so it was a reall treat. As everyone points out, Silver Stadium is a AAA baseball stadium made up of little more than bleachers and cyclone fencing. One of my freinds got shut out of this show and when I met up with him later and asked him if he could hear it he said, "Hear it? You could hear it for blocks!" I don't know if it's just a mattter of taste or revisionist history but "Believe I or Not" is a terible awful song. Just sayin' Space sounds like you're inside a giant pinball machine. Not totally a pleasant experience. Healy was beginning to get out of control with the sound effects and sampling or whateverand you could easily see how that would drive the band nuts. Brent is awesome throughout. Great Mingleweir. Great, great, great show.

The stage was not in "the pitcher's mound area to home plate;" it was in center field, maybe edging slightly toward left.

Other than that, can't disagree with any reviews here.

The tix for this show were general admission. As one reviewer pointed out, Silver Stadium is a AAA baseball park, and the stage was set just beyond the pitcher's mound area to home plate.
It was a cloudy late afternoon, and rain was in the air (nothing like Hershey '85 or the SPAC show from several years earlier).
Nonetheless, Phil (who took the time to notice a lovely woman perched on her boyfriend's shoulders) counted the band into "Box". Jerry followed with a crisp "Cold Rain". I thought maybe Bob would add "Looks Like Rain" to complete the "rain" theme...but it was a pretty hot "Minglewood" instead. Speaking of Weir, he was playing a pink guitar that show. I don't think he used it for too many shows.
Anyway, the rest of the set was standard, but well played.

The second set was the real treat. The boys were tuning up and a smiling Garcia, layed down the "Green Onions" jam for a minute or two.
Then it was "China>Rider". Very well executed. Bobby did his best to "tear the whole building down" with a solid "Samson".
Then came a ballad by Jerry - I searched my memory bank to see if it was a revivale or cover . I found out it was the newly crafted "Believe it or Not". It was pretty well received, and while it may not have the power of a "Comes a Time", I was surprised the boys did not explore the rotation of that song in subsequent shows.
Anyhoo, a cooking "Truckin'" followed and then a dirgeful "He's Gone" took us to the Drumz.
Bobby cooked a slinky "Other One" and then we got solid renditions of "Wharf Rat and Throwing Stones". I had been to SPAC on the 28th and knew they had closed with "Not Fade", so..... we got "Lovelight". Not the best version ever, but a nice switch.

Looking back, this was probably the last year the band was able to play relatively smaller venues (although nothing like the intimacy of the late 70's and early 80's). After 1988, the GD played far more huge stadiums: "RFK, JFK, Giants Stadium, Rich Stadium, Sullivan Stadium."

This is no exception, great on it's own and relative to the other 88's and later shows... nice ramble on rose china>rider truckin green onions?? the one and only. This is as good as this era gets.

the dead i think loved to play this little baseball stadium and this 2nd year in rochester definitely kicked it up a notch. the boys are definitely enjoying the sound of the place and the 2nd set i think has one of the best all time china-riders.listen to phil, and the jam that never wants to end before i know you rider.green onions! yeah man a classic.

This Rochester rules. I've just been listening to the cd I burned and it has me bouncing all around the house while doin' my chores. The Believe It Or Not moved me to tears! This show is a must! The sound of the full show file is really good!Compared to the tape I've had for the last 17 years this cd sounds too good to be true! Get it!